


Stray: Red Hood's past

by scorbusjamesteddy



Series: Stray Verse [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd loves Wonder Woman, Jason-Centric, Resurrected Jason Todd, i really don't know how to tag this, idk - Freeform, kate is basically jason's and cass' mom, oh boy where do i start, the plot is there but also like not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 07:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15702414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorbusjamesteddy/pseuds/scorbusjamesteddy
Summary: Prequel toStray: The downfall of a RobinJason is back from the dead and he's angry. Bruce doesn't know what's going on. Tim has a stupid childhood crush he isn't over. Kate just wants to help Jason and Cass is also there.





	Stray: Red Hood's past

**Author's Note:**

> this is not as good as i would have liked it to be oh boy, but at least now I can put all my attention to the actual sequel

It had been exactly a month and four days since Jason Todd came back from the dead. A month and four days of running around Gotham and waiting for the Bat to figure it all out. A month and four days in which he had done exactly nothing but kick mobsters and child traffickers in their arrogant faces. A month and four days since the media had gone wild over the Joker finally realizing Jason Todd from a several year kidnapping that not even the secret services had been able to get behind.A month and four days since Jason Todd as a citizen in Gotham again and a month and four days since he realized that the city hadn’t changed a bit in his absence.

 

At some point he had had an intense fight with what turned out to be the new Robin. He hadn't cared to find out his name. He had had his knife already against the smaller guys throat by the time Batman pulled him off of Robin and Jason walked away from the scene. He was pretty sure there was blood on Robin’s throat. 

 

And at some point Batman figured it all out. At some point, on that day one month and four days after he came back, Batman ran into him on a rooftop on the Diamond Distract and Jason had snarled at him to leave him alone until after he punched the Penguin back into Arkham. Or put a bullet through his skull.

 

Batman had just mumbled, “You could do better, Jason.”

 

Jason had stopped in his tracks. “You finally figured it out? World's greatest detective my ass.”

 

Jason only found out two months later over Barbara Gordon that Bruce in fact hadn't been the one to figure the Red Hood mystery out, but rather the new Robin Tim Drake had concluded that there was no other option than for it to be Jason. As much as the replacement annoyed Jason, he had to admit the teenager was good at his job. 

 

In that same conversation with Barbara, he asked her where Bruce had found Tim and Barbara had only laughed, telling him he should find that one out himself, considering Tim and Bruce told very different stories of how Tim became Robin. 

 

So Red Hood seeked out Robin again, and cornered him while out on patrol. “Well, replacement, care to explain how you got my job?”

 

“It's clearly not your job anymore,” Tim had replied. “Or you wouldn't be here today.”

 

Jason had pressed his knife into Tim's throat again, right underneath the scar he could make out, that was more than obviously from their last encounter. 

 

Tim had sighed. “I told B he needed a Robin, he became grumpy and I convinced him. He probably was just scared I'd leake his identity. Now would you be so kind and remove your knife from my throat?”

 

In response Jason pushed the knife even closer. “How did you know his identity?”

 

“It figured. You know, with Dick Grayson being the only one that could move like Robin could and him conveniently moving into Wayne Manor just as Robin appeared around Gotham next to Batman.”

 

Jason let go of Tim and the smaller one immediately got into a fighting position, something Jason hadn't expected. He was almost twice Tim's size and Tim was rather thin and lanky -  _ seriously though, what was Bruce feeding him? _ \- not looking like an expert in hand to hand combat.

 

As it turned out Tim had improved since their last fight and had gotten to a point where he would be almost a worthy opponent to Jason if Jason wouldn't be armed. Or if Tim would be armed as well. 

 

His third meeting with Tim wasn't a one on one meeting, next to him was a girl in a completely black costume with a bat sign embedded on the front of it. 

 

While Tim was not in a mood to fight him, the girl turned out to even beat him in a fight, leaving him with a blood wound on his arm and a cut in his jacket and shirt. He was pushing himself up to get to one of his safehouses when Tim called for him and nodded towards the batmobile. 

 

He had tried to ignore it but the girl had cracked her knuckles and he had wordlessly went to the car parked there. As it turned out, Bruce wasn't in the car. Dick Grayson was sitting behind the wheel in his Nightwing costume. He didn't say anything to Jason and just started talking to Tim.

 

Jason was extremely uncomfortable as Tim made him get out of the car in the cave and lay down on the hospital chair he had laid on a thousand times. 

 

Tim took off his mask and cape, switching his gloves for medical gloves and pulling Jason’s jacket away. He pushed the sleeve of his shirt up and revealed the wound that was still bleeding. Tim didn't say anything as he patched Jason up, and Jason let him, even if he felt bad for it. 

 

Tim was almost finished when Alfred came down into the cave, carrying a tray with water bottles, handing everyone - including Jason - one before turning to stand next to Tim. 

 

“May I ask what happened to you, Master Jason?”

 

Jason was so surprised that Alfred still called him that after all those years he couldn't answer. 

 

However, the girl who had fought him grunted, “He hurt Tim. So I hurt him.”

 

“Listen, whoever you are,” Jason replied in an equal grunt, “There was no need to attack me, and to all of you there was no need to bring me here.”

 

“Don't worry Master Jason, Master Bruce is out for the week,” Aldred said. “Still, I would like to offer the possibility of you staying the night.”

 

“Alfie, as much as I like you, I would rather get out of here as soon as possible,” he tried pulling his arm away but Tim’s fingers wrapped his hand around his elbow and pulled him close again. 

 

“You need stitches,” Tim said, voice flat.

 

“I can stitch myself up, replacement,” Jason claimed but he knew he couldn't get out of Tim's hold without force. 

 

“You fucking keep sitting here until I'm done with you,” Tim all but hissed and Jason felt the need to protest even more, but Alfred send him an expecting look so he kept still as Tim prepared a needle. 

 

-

 

Jason had only ever heard stories about Kate Kane, he had never actually met her. Not until Alfred made him come to the Manor for tea and he ran into her as she was heading out. 

 

Kate Kane was a little younger than Bruce, had shoulder long bright red hair - Jason was sure it was dyed because he couldn't imagine someone actually having hair that red - and she looked ready to kill. 

 

“Who are you?” She asked.

 

“Jason,” he replied. 

 

Her eyes went wide or a moment but she quickly caught herself and nodded. “Alfred mentioned that you would be meeting him. I thought you and Bruce weren't on speaking terms since the entire … thing that happened.”

 

“Alfred and I are on speaking terms,” Jason replied. “And he said Bruce ain't here so.”

 

Kate gave him a quick nod and a smile, before disappearing out of the door and Jason made his way to find Alfred.

 

-

 

Bruce noticed that Alfred and Jason were getting along just like they had before anything happened. He noticed that Kate was starting to talk more to Jason, he noticed that Barbara had gotten in contact with Jason a few times. 

 

He wasn’t stupid, he knew Jason was avoiding him. And if he was completely honest with himself he understood why he did it. 

 

-

 

“Bruce, he's angry,” Kate said. “And can you blame him? If you died as a child by the Joker’s hands, you'd be angry as well.”

 

“He almost killed Tim,” Bruce replied. 

 

“And Cass made him regret that already,” Kate hissed. “Jason is still a child, and he's understandably angry at you. You can't blame him.”

 

Bruce sighed.

 

-

 

Jason and Tim met again in Crime Alley in late August. It was past midnight and Jason was taking a smoke break from putting bullets in people's heads, as Robin landed on the roof next to him. He didn't really say anything. 

 

And Jason looked at him, and only then did he realize that Tim was tiny. He was thin and smaller than both he and Dick had been.

 

“How did you become Robin?” Jason asked. 

 

“Figured out who B was. Then annoyed him until he let me,” Tim replied. “Already said that weeks ago, so what is it to you?”

 

“Just wondering. Entire thing doesn’t add up in my mind,” Jason replied. He threw the cigarette to the ground. For a while the two of them staid in silence and just sat there on the roof. Jason thought about what he had been like at Tim’s age, then he remembered he had no idea how old Tim was, that the guy could be anything between eleven and sixteen. Then he remembered that Tim had probably been Robin for a while now, meaning he probably became Robin when he was under eleven. Then he remembered what happened to him and suddenly he felt a need to protect Tim from all the people outside of the Batcave. And maybe the ones inside as well.

 

And then he remembered that he was probably one of the people on the list of people Tim needed protection from.

 

-

 

Jason found himself spending more and more time at Kate's place, just being there. Kate had an apartment in a complex build around a tree, meaning one half of her windows went towards a huge tree while the other half gave a perfect view of Gotham. The apartment was in the Southern part, near the docks, meaning it even showed the nicer streets of an otherwise broken town. 

 

“Are you staying for dinner?” Kate asked, after they finished whatever Horror movie was in Kate’s Netflix recommendations. They had quickly figured out that both of them were close to obsessed with Horror movies. “Cass is dropping by as well.”

 

“Why not?” Jason shrugged. “Even though I'm sure Cass hates me.”

 

“She cut your arm once, she doesn't hate you,” Kate replied. 

 

Jason shook his head. “We'll see.”

 

“We will.”

 

-

 

As it turned out Cass didn't hate Jason. She was quiet for the first hour or so but as Kate placed three bowls of ice cream onto the table, she started joining the conversation. 

 

Jason wasn't sure what to think of her. She wasn't like the rest of the bats. While Bruce and Dick had suffered tragedies, Cass had a rough childhood. Kinda like Jason. Cass had been taught to be one thing and choose with her free will to be the opposite. And Jason admired that about her. Still, she scared him in a way. Because Cass could go from threatening him to never ever lay a hand on Tim again to smiling and asking about Jason’s favourite bands. 

 

Cass wasn't angry. Not like Kate or Bruce or  _ he. _ Kate just wanted to do good. To not become like the people who had raised her. 

 

-

 

Alfred dragged Jason to a doctor’s office. After he had come back from the dead he went to two routine doctor’s visits, considering the official story had been that he was kidnapped by the Joker for several years. The doctors had done a few check-ups and he had considered himself fine, but Alfred insisted on dragging him to one of the doctor’s that worked with the League, one of those who could detect meta-abilities caused by the pit. 

 

As it turned out Jason was above Human Speed, and Above Human Strength due to the pit, but both not to a degree where Jason would call it a superpower.

 

-

 

“Have you ever considered actually adopting any of them?” Kate asked. She was leaning against the computers in the Cave, while Bruce was sorting files. It had been a slow night for both of them. Tim was somewhere with Dick and the girls had taken the night off. 

 

“Dick, yes. Jason for a while. Cass as well. Why?”

 

“I haven't talked to them,” Kate said. “But Jason and Cass need someone. Jason maybe even more than Cass.’

 

“So you want to…?” Bruce asked.

 

“I considered it. I've wanted children for a while,” she mumbled. “And maybe emotionally strained teenagers aren't the best way, but it's something. And they need someone.”

 

“You should talk to them. Give them some time.”

 

-

 

“You think he'll ever calm down?” Tim asked. He was sitting on the kitchen Counter in Dick’s Bludhaven flat, and Dick was cooking. Tim didn't stay there often but every once in a while he dropped by for a few nights.

 

Dick nodded. “You can't blame him for how he currently is behaving. He had a hard time. You know, with dying and all.”

 

Tim sighed. His fingers brushed over the scar on his throat. His mind kept asking himself the same question.  _ How fucked up is it that I still idolize him after all this? _

 

-

 

When Tim came back to Gotham, Bruce wasn't home. Cass was sitting in the library and Alfred was somewhere doing whatever Alfred did when he finally got some time off. Steph texted him a while later, telling him to meet her for coffee. 

 

“Cass and Jason hung out while you were gone,” Steph said as they settled into a booth at Starbucks. “Like out of their suits. They went to some sort of Concert I think.”

 

“Jason and Cass? That's… surprising.”

 

Steph chuckled. “You could say that. You know how Jason and Kate are pretty close recently? I think Kate set them up for it.”

 

“Kate is basically Cass’ mother at this point, isn't she?” Tim asked, smiling a little. 

 

Steph nodded. “It's nice to see she is finally recovering a bit.”

 

“I hope Jason can recover too.”

 

“Is your stupid childhood crush not gone after he slit your throat?” Steph teased. “That's masochistic even for you standarts.”

 

“Shut up,” Tim mumbled, kicking her under the table. “You're just jealous.”

 

“Right, after all this time I'm still not over you,” she replied. “My crush on Cass was just a disguise to make sure you don't notice it.”

 

“Knew it,” Tim replied. “It's ok, eventually you'll get over me.”

 

-

 

Jason hadn't expected to hang out with Cass as much as he did, but she turned out to be one of the funniest people he knew, even if she was quiet at first. And they had similar music taste. Classic Music and Hard Rock was something not a lot of people liked at the same time. Cass did. So did Kate. 

 

So when Kate put two tickets for some concert on a table during dinner one day, Cass and Jason didn't ask whose concert it was, they just went. And they had fun. 

 

They didn't go out together. Cass was still working out her opinion on killing and Jason killed like it was nothing, so they figured it wouldn't be a good combination. Kate however gladly teamed up with Jason. 

 

-

 

“Have you ever considered finding a new family?” Kate one day asked Jason during dinner. Dinner at Kate’s place at least twice a week had become a regular occurance. Every Sunday, she, Jason and Cass ate together and both of them dropped by some other day of the week as well, sometimes the same day, sometimes on different days. But during that time Family had always been an unspoken taboo.

 

“Never considered it,” Jason replied, seemingly unbothered by the question. Kate knew he wasn’t. 

 

“I spoke to Cass earlier this week. If it all works out I’m going to adopt her,” Kate finally said. 

 

“That’s… unexpected,” Jason replied, almost choking on his food. “You sure?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

Jason shrugged. “Just that being a parent is a lot, I guess. I mean you see how it fucking worked out for my parents.”

 

“Jason,” Kate said. “If I’m Cass’ mom officially or not won’t change much. I’d offer to adopt you too, but that’s kinda hart, because you’re over 18.”

 

Jason nodded slowly.

-

 

Jason hadn't expected to hang out with Cass as much as he did, but she turned out to be one of the funniest people he knew, even if she was quiet at first. And they had similar music taste. Classic Music and Hard Rock was something not a lot of people liked at the same time. Cass did. So did Kate. 

 

So when Kate put two tickets for some concert on a table as all of them were having tea with Alfred, Cass and Jason didn't ask whose concert it was, they just went. And they had fun. 

 

They didn't go out together. Cass was still working out her opinion on killing and Jason killed like it was nothing, so they figured it wouldn't be a good combination. Kate however gladly teamed up with Jason. 

 

-

 

Jason had idolised Wonder Woman since before he knew who Batman was. When he was younger, when his mother was still sober from time to time, she told him stories about a woman created by Roman Gods, who came from an isle full of worries, who saved the world from monsters. She told him stories of her and of her adventures. In the beginning he thought it was a myth, just a story. But he still was in awe of it. Because even if ‘Wonder Woman’ was fictional, she was still amazing. But with time Jason saw her on TV and in newspapers. He started hearing other people talk about her as well.

 

Jason had never seen Wonder Woman in person, until one time Batman took him to a Justice League meeting, but even there he just saw her from afar. But he decided she was just as amazing in person as in the news. 

 

When Jason had turned thirteen his mother had given him a Wonder Woman shirt, it had been severals sizes too big because his mother was too drunk to remember his clothes sizes, but he still treasured it like nothing else he owned. 

 

To this day the only people that knew about the shirt were Bruce Wayne (because nothing could be hidden from him) and Roy Harper (because Roy was his best friend, and Jason also knew about Roy’s obsession with cartoons so it equalled out).

 

But Jason never had hopes to one day meet Wonder Woman, because Batman had put a strong  _ ‘no superheroes and metahumans in gotham’ _ rule. Jason had accepted that as it was, but it didn't mean he didn't want to meet Wonder Woman.

 

So when Kate called him and asked if he and Cass would want to join him on a trip to New York to meet Wonder Woman he didn't even ask what the issue was, he just agreed. Kate would inform him about it later. 

 

What she hadn't informed them about was that they weren't flying to New York. When Jason and Cass packed their suitpacks into the back of Kate's car, she just smiled at them and asked if they were ready to spend five hours on the road. Cass had only shrugged, while Jason had taken a moment to realize that the trip to the airport would  _ not _ take 5 hours, but rather that the trip to New York took that long. 

 

But Jason didn't comment on it, because he was more than ok with spending five hours in a crammed up car with Cass and Kate if it meant he was going to meet Wonder Woman in person.

 

After around twenty miles Cass asked why they weren't flying, and Kate just shook her head. “I’m good at hiding stuff, but not even I can smuggle all of Jason’s guns through security checks.”

 

Jason hadn't even thought about that when he had filed the hidden pocket of his suitcase with guns. He only then realized that he really hadn't thought about anything about the trip, he didn't even know how long they would be staying. He almost smacked himself for his stupidity, Batman had taught him better than that. But Batman wasn't there, Batman was part of his last life. 

 

Sixty miles in, Cass turned in her seat and put her feet in Jason’s lap without comment, Jason didn't say anything either. It was the first time he had seen Cass be physically comfortable with someone that wasn't Stephanie Brown and he was not going to stop her even if it would be uncomfortable, which it wasn't.

 

Ninety miles in they made a stop at McDonalds and Kate ordered the two of them Kids Boxes without even asking them. When Jason pulled a Batman action figure out of his box, Cass quickly snatched it from him, handed him her Wonder Woman figure and threw the Batman one out of the window onto the highway. Kate didn't comment on it but Jason could see her repress the smile. He knew that Cass was seeing it too.

 

Another sixty miles later, Cass asked him if he had snapchat and when he nodded and opened the app (he pretty much was only using it to talk to Roy and some of his Gotham friends) she quickly grabbed it and typed in her username. “You better not lose streaks once we got them.”

 

“Teenagers and their technology these days,” Kate mumbled from the front seat. “I don't even know what that means.”

 

“We'll teach you,” Cass replied. “Don't worry.”

 

-

 

New York was breathtaking. While Gotham was dark day and night, NYC looked bright, coffee shops at every corner and street art covering most other parts of the city. 

 

“We can go sightseeing later, Diana is waiting,” Kate said, pulling the two of them away from their map and along the blocks of brick houses that made up Brooklyn.

 

“Diana can wait,” Cass replied. “I wanna see the statue of liberty.”

 

“Later,” Kate replied and started walking faster. “You two are like toddlers.”

 

-

 

Diana’s apartment was in an apartment complex that reminded Jason of one of the nicer streets in Gotham. Inside however it was nothing like Gotham. The walls were a light shade of grey and the windows let in more light than Jason’s apartment had with all the lights turned on. The furniture was made out of white wood and glass, giving the entire place a rather modern look. 

 

Kate and Diana gave each other a quick hug, Kate quickly introduced Jason and Cass (real names and secret identities), Diana shook both of their hands and then went straight to business. Explaining that during her research she had found several bombs located all over New York, that at first she had thought were reliques of a war, but on closer investigation had turned out to be recent. By now she and Donna Troye had removed all of them, but they still had barely any clue on who put them there.

 

Cass, who had over time picked up a lot of the ways Batman solved mysteries like these, immediately asked if she could get a file with all the intel they had, while Jason and Kate agreed to go out on the streets to look. 

 

-

 

Within a day the news about Batwoman, Red Hood and Orphan being in New York had spread. On their first morning at Diana’s apartment, Diana already put a News Paper on the table, which had a picture of them going out the night prior on it. Kate only shrugged, while Cass asked if she could keep the picture. Jason was too busy still processing he was staying with his childhood idol to care about the papers.

 

-

 

“Jason?”

 

Diana was standing in the door of the guest room Jason and Cass were staying at. Cass and Kate were still working on files, even though it was way past midnight. (Jason guess that had to be a common thing with people that had worked with Batman for a while.) Jason wasn't sure why he was still awake. (Actually he knew, it was because he had been talking to Barbara about some book and they had somehow lost track of time.)

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Kate mentioned that you and Cass wanted to go sightseeing. I don't think I can pry Cass away from her work, she's almost as bad as Bruce, but if you want, I could show you around. NYC is different at night than during the day.”

 

“Sure,” Jason shrugged. “I'll be out in a few.”

 

Diana smiled at him and closed the door behind her, leaving Jason to quickly throw everything he'd need (not that he knew what he'd need) into his backpack, slip on his sneakers and put a leather jacket over. 

 

When he got outside, Diana was already standing next to the door, her hair in a ponytail and her clothes having changed from a top and sweatpants to the usual casual chique look that he always saw in pictures.

 

“I was thinking we go the statue of liberty first and make our way from there,” Diana said. “Unless you have other suggestions.”

 

“I'm down,” Jason replied, pushing his hands in his pockets.

 

-

 

Diana as a person was just as amazing as Wonder Woman as a hero was. She was sweet but to the point and seemed to always know what to say. Jason managed to keep his heartbeat relatively normal, and not act like he was hanging out with his favourite celebrity, even tho that was pretty much what he was doing. 

 

-

 

When they returned that night, Cass had finally stopped working. She was on her phone in their current room

 

“Do you have a thing for Diana?” 

 

Jason almost choked. “Hell no.”

 

“You have a Wonder Woman shirt.”

 

“I,” he took a deep breath. “If you tell what I'm about to yell you to anyone, I'll shoot you.”

 

“It's not like you can do that, but go ahead,” she replied, walking over to his bed. “Are we going to do that thing Steph said girls do at sleepovers?”

 

“Not really,” Jason replied. “My mom gave me the shirt when I was twelve. Wonder Woman was my idol.”

 

“She still is,” Cass added. “You aren't sneaky.”

 

He shrugged. “I guess. Just like the new Robin seems to idolize B.”

 

“Tim doesn't idolize Bruce,” Cass said. “He… i don't know how to explain it. Anyway, go on.”

 

“Basically she was the first superhero I ever heard of so,” Jason shrugged. “Ok, now you.”

 

“What?”

 

“I don't know, I spilled some secrets, now you.”

 

“I watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

 

Jason considered for a while if she was telling the truth before nodding slowly. “It's a good show.”

 

“You watch it, too?”

 

“Yeah,” he replied. “Sometimes.”

 

She smiled. “When we're back, Kate's place, movie night.”

 

“Alright,” he replied. 

 

“So you don't have a crush on Diana?”

 

“No. She's way too old for me.”

 

Cass chuckled. “Good. I think Kate likes her.”

 

“Kate is into Diana?”

 

“Pay attention to it,” Cass said. “It's obvious.”

 

“And Diana?” Jason asked, still shocked that Cass had picked it up before he even had a vague idea about it.

 

“I'm not sure yet,” she replied. “We should let them have some time alone.”

 

Jason nodded slowly.

 

-

 

Cass solved the mystery on who planted the bombs a few days later and Batwoman, Orphan and Red Hood went out to kick their asses before Wonder Woman send them to prison.

 

The NYPD thanked all of them in a press conference and said that all three were always welcome in New York. Red Hood wondered if word of his methods hadn't spread outside of Gotham yet or if the NYPD was really just ignoring it. 

 

Diana offered all of them to stay a little longer so they could actually see New York, which they all gladly agreed on. 

 

-

 

“One day I want to live here,” Cass said, after taking the first bite from one of the waffles they got at a corner store. 

 

Jason chuckled. “You say that about every place that has good food.”

 

“That’s because it's always true,” she took another bite from her waffle.

 

“New York is expensive,” Kate mentioned, Diana nodding in confirmation.

 

“Bruce can pay for it,” Cass replied. “I'm eighty percent sure he is paying for Dick’s apartment without Dick knowing.”

 

-

 

They stayed an extra week. Jason started paying attention to how Kate and Diana acted around each other and he came to the conclusion, that Cass was in fact right and someone needed to do something about the two of them not getting their shit together.

 

Cass turned into a full out NYC tourist, buying souvenirs she didn't need and walking around with a map everywhere. 

Kate got a sunburn.

 

But at the end of the week, they ended up all having a good time, despite Cass and Jason having different ideas on what they wanted to do, Diana being in constant stress for her cover up job as a Publicity Agent, and Kate constantly complaining about her sunburn.

 

Jason found himself not once thinking about Bruce or Dick or his replacement or really anyone of Batman’s crew (besides Alfred of course). 

 

“You're good at fighting,” Diana told him on his last day as they were watching some random movie on TV while Cass and Kate did the New York Night tour that Diana had already given Jason.

 

“Thanks,” Jason replied.

 

“I know Bruce doesn't train you anymore. But if you want to get a bit better at some stuff, I could help.”

 

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

 

“I know Kate wants to help you, but she's already doing her best to get Cass to let her help her. So I thought I'd jump in.”

 

Jason nodded slowly. “What do you want me to do?”

 

“I know you won't leave Gotham,” Diana said. “At least not permanently. However, if you are willing to stay here with me a few months, you're always welcome.”

 

“Thanks,” Jason replied slowly. “I think I'll come back to you on that offer.”

 

“Maybe call me before you show up here, I can send someone to pick you up so you won't have to get your weapons through security.”

 

He nodded.

 

-

 

Back in Gotham it was like nothing had ever changed. The second they returned Kate got a call from Bruce and half an hour later Red Hood saw Nightwing swing by while he was patrolling with Orphan. He had known nothing would change. He had been dead for a few years and when he had come back the only thing that had been different was that Robin had gotten a lot thinner and Batgirl was blonde.

 

He knew he could go to train with Wonder Woman for a few months and when he came back, maybe Robin would be a girl and Batgirl would be bold, maybe Nightwing would grow himself a mullet and maybe Batman would change the shade of grey his suit was, but the city wouldn't change and neither would the people in it. The city has been the same since Batman had first appeared, and he knew it would stay the same until Batman dies. 

 

So when Barbara ringed him up over the coms he only slipped on his suit and grabbed two guns before rushing to where she had told him something was going down.

 

While Barman still didn't work with him because he killed, Orphan had realized that he killed with a pattern and that it was rather him than no one, Oracle seemed to just ignore his methods.

 

-

 

Barbara rarely called Jason on his actual phone. Usually she just waited until he was on the coms or texted. So when he saw her call I.D. at the four AM on his screen, he knew it was bad. 

 

“Tim's gone,” she replied. “We need all help we can get.”

 

“Are you at the manor?”

 

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “Cave.”

 

“I’m on my way.”

 

He sighed. Kate was out in somewhere East Europe and he hadn't talked to her in weeks. He hoped Cass would be there. Otherwise height have to throw himself down a cliff before talking to Bruce. 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you at least somewhat liked this, if you did pls leave kudos and/or a comment


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